SXSWORLD

2 0 SXS W O R L D | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 | SXSW.COM camera system, which films seam- less 360-degree video that can be used to create VR content. In that time, she has had a thoughtful reckoning with how very different making "films" in VR can be. For example, "... there are a lot of VR, they call themselves cinematic VR filmmakers. And they said, 'Oh, you can't edit, it's not an editable medium.' And I was like, 'That's kind of dumb.' Because every medium is editable. We filter everything. Editing in the tradi- tional sense probably doesn't work, but that doesn't mean editing as a concept doesn't work." What Brillhart will bring with her to SXSW in March is the same thing she took with her when she left the tech giant and started her own produc- tion company, Vrai Pictures — a wholly new and unique language of filmmaking in the immersive space. Think of it this way: if making cinema as we know it now is a form of pho- tography, creating immersive cinema is a form of sculpting. Instead of meticulously filled frames in motion, Brillhart and the filmmakers who will learn this language from her will be sculpting worlds and thinking about how their audiences will move around in them. Once filmmakers begin to speak differently about how to build worlds in the immersive space, they can begin to tackle VR's other big chal- lenge: it's a very chaotic space. But to hear Brillhart talk about her wide array of upcoming projects, it almost sounds like the chaos is a good thing. In the coming year, she will produce projects at Vrai (which translates from French as "true" or "real") that range from an immersive audio experience for a brand you might recognize to an augmented reality tool to a VR series. It's all part of continuing to figure out what creates value for the audience, and it's part of a larger conversation she is leading and which the audience for her SXSW Film Keynote will get to experience. "I love the fact I'm going to be doing the film talk at South By," she explains. "Because it's just that seeing something like (SXSW 2008 premiere) Second Skin reminded me that there are people out there trying to translate this stuff, too. South By was one of the first places to embrace nerd culture, so it feels a little bit like coming home." Jessica Brillhart will be a Film Keynote speaker at SXSW 2019. Check schedule.sxsw.com for more details. continued from p.18 "It's like extending beyond our biological ability to perceive the world." Photo by Catalina Kulczar-Marin

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